I think the point is that the new concept currently works particularly well for some classes, but is lacklustre for others. The example we see here is that Adam is disappointed, which clearly shows which way the rogue ones have gone. It seems that the shaman players are pretty happy.

The big problem I forsee presently is in tanks for instances. Presently there are plenty of players leveling an alt, on a dps spec that below 58 can still tank easily ie retri paladins, feral druids, arms/fury warriors, but this present scheme seems to stop that. A similar although maybe not so stark issue would be dps spec presently healing below 58 aka shadow spec priests. Thus a re-design looks likely, although an easy solution would be dual spec from level 15, at a far cheaper cost.

I agree with Adam, that this is not finalised yet, but the 51 pointers are gone.

I leveled up my rogue in Vanilla and the trees were similar (in size) to the new trees. So to me it feels like Blizzard has hit the reset button.
They know Wow will live for a few more expansions and they’ve released that if they keep just adding more points and talents the trees will be massively bloated. That’s not a problem for more experienced players, we’ve seen the stepped increase of points in TBC and again in WotLK, we know which talents are necessary, which are optional / fun and which are fillers. Blizzard are always targeting new players and imagine how overwhelmed these new players would be after seeing they have talent trees in which they can spend 71 points..

I do understand what you’re saying about the trees being dumbed down and I agree to an extent, especially with the rogue trees and part of me wants to rage about a few of the talents (Murderous Intent I’m looking at you, fucking backstab when I have Mutilate! Why? And don’t get me started on Reinforced Leather).
However, I’ve looked at the some of the other trees (warrior, priest) and I think they are OK. Maybe the rogue trees just need a bit more work. Or maybe we’re still Blizzard’s bastard child.

This is copy-pasted straight from a blue post, explaining their design philosophy with the new trees :

“Trying to decide between dps and utility isn’t a decision (for PvE anyway) and choosing damage vs. damage is a decision most players make by going to third party sites. We want you to be able to get all of the damage talents you reasonably can, and be making decisions over the utility talents.”

Oh, and also : “This is a first pass
While this is a first pass on all of the talent trees, death knight, druid, paladin, warlock, Arcane mage, and Assassination rogue trees are not as far along as other specializations.”

Don’t worry, the only thing that’s getting nerfed for rogues is the Mut/prep spec which isn’t possible anymore under the new “rules”